Physical Description: At only 1.28 m (4 feet 2 inches), Fergus is very small for his age. He has short blond hair and a round, friendly face. His eyes are blue, and Fergus has worn glasses for as long as he can remember. He has an athletic build and can be described as handsome and quite cute overall.

Mental Description: Fergus has a calm nature. He seems to have an extraordinary need for harmony. This means that he tries to avoid conflicts, get along well with others and not be unfair. However, this is sometimes difficult for him, as Fergus is – it has to be said – smarter and more intelligent than most people his age. He is able to understand complex issues and manages to form his own opinions. He also expresses these with considerable strength of character and eloquence. Fergus often learns new things very quickly and is surprisingly good at many things. Although he has the potential to be a leader, he does not like to be in the spotlight. He is very helpful, uses his skills for good and loves it when other people appreciate his help, but he detests the limelight and does not handle compliments well. He fears that others might feel less valuable if he receives too much attention. He spends a lot of time reading and loves to lose himself in fictional stories. He also enjoys playing the piano, at which he is relatively good, and plays football in his village, Shorwell, because he likes to be active and is a sporty child with remarkable reflexes. The people around him describe him as a good conversationalist because he is friendly and polite, but at the same time appears interested and attentive and shows empathy. It is also striking that Fergus adapts his manner to the person he is talking to. He manages to communicate well with old and young people, with cool people and outsiders, with peers and authority figures. His analytical skills help him to quickly recognise how other people function. Despite all these good qualities, Fergus has few friends his own age. He always finds someone to hang out with at school and in town because most people don't despise him. Nevertheless, there is no one he would really call a friend. At school, the ‘cool kids’ consider him ‘old-fashioned’ and ‘uncool’. Because of his small stature, he experiences bullying almost every day. But while he usually finds it difficult to talk about his own strengths, here he reveals what he himself considers to be his greatest strength. Despite his poor standing with the popular kids, Fergus doesn't let it get him down. He knows that he can't help the things people tease him about, and he manages to find a nice person everywhere he goes who he prefers to hang out with. Many other children would suffer much more from bullying than Fergus. He is aware of this gift and is very grateful for it.

Biography: Fergus Hodge was born on 8 December 2013 in a hospital in Newport on the Isle of Wight and grew up in the nearby village of Shorwell. He is the second of four children: his older brother Adrian is only a year and a half older than him, his younger sister Isabella was born three years after him, and finally his youngest brother Romulus followed. The Hodge family lives in a spacious house on the edge of the village, surrounded by a large garden where the children spend a lot of time.
His parents, both working and well-established in life, have a rather traditional lifestyle. Although they are caring and open-minded, they place more value on books, nature and shared meals than on modern technology. As a result, Fergus grew up without television, video games or social media – something that set him apart from many of his peers at school. Instead, he spent his childhood playing football, playing the piano, reading and building with wooden blocks. Reading in particular took on a special place in his life from an early age: Fergus devoured stories of all kinds, which not only helped him learn quickly, but also enabled him to develop an impressive way with words.
Fergus stood out positively at primary school. His parents were proud, but also a little concerned: they feared that Fergus might feel lonely because he was different. In fact, he did find it difficult to form deep friendships. Although he always found children to play with during breaks or when playing football, he never had any real confidants. Many considered him ‘precocious’ or ‘too serious’ for his age. His small stature and polite, reserved manner also made him a target for teasing, which he endured with remarkable composure. Fergus developed early on the attitude that it was better to focus on the people who appreciated him rather than waste energy on those who did not like him.
Fergus led a happy and secure life in the small village of Shorwell. He loved playing football with the village children or sitting down at the piano. His life was quiet and unspectacular – until one day he received a most unusual letter.

First Instance of Magic:
When Fergus was 8 years old, his mother watched him through the window as he sat down in the garden on a warm spring day to read a book. No sooner had he sat down and buried his nose in his book than dozens of buds unfolded around him at once. Their petals curled up as if they had been waiting just for him. Fergus didn't notice anything. His mother was completely perplexed, because she had never seen so many flowers open so quickly. When Fergus closed his book an hour later and stood up, he looked around in amazement for a moment, but didn't think anything of it and went back into the house.